


Cruel

by koalathebear



Series: Pitch Missing Scenes: Conversations Unsaid [2]
Category: Pitch (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Deleted Scenes, F/M, Fictober 2016, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 18:12:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8295278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: Missing/deleted scene from the pilot episode after Ginny's disastrous first start.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to the [Fictober 2016 challenge on tumblr](http://weatheredlaw.tumblr.com/post/151121970539/fictober). Word is **cruel**.

Inspired by [this gifset](http://thatonekimgirl.tumblr.com/post/151871421301/why-was-this-cut-x) by [thatonekimgirl](http://thatonekimgirl.tumblr.com/):

*

_"Give me the ball."_

_"Take a minute. "_

_"Give me the damn ball. "_

It's a familiar sound, the unrelenting _thump thump thump_ of a baseball being pitched against a hard surface.

Lawson stands in the doorway to one of the training rooms at Petco and is surprised to see Ginny Baker there on her own in the pitching cages. He'd heard that she'd been driven back to the hotel, flanked by a stony-faced Amelia and a sympathetic Eliot, and yet now here she is, grey t-shirt damp with perspiration, lycra hugging her long, powerful legs as she winds up and pitches again.

He watches her turn, pivot, lift her leg into the balance position, her toe pointing down. Her face is fierce, determined and she pitches over and over again…

Now and then he hears her mutter something as if she's talking to someone. He finds it amusing that she talks to herself but his amusement vanishes almost immediately as he sees the punishing way she pitches … this is no practice session … it's more like a penance … some form of self-flagellation. 

Part of him wants to step out and tell her to stop, that she's overdoing it – that she'll hurt herself if she keeps this up. He wants to tell her that she shouldn't be so hard on herself. But he knows it's not his place. 

He knows the weight of the world is on her shoulders – the first woman in Major League Baseball … 

Ordinarily she'd have started out in the bullpen and worked her way up to the starting gig…Instead, she has the misfortune of a disastrous first start in a high profile game. Extremely public humiliation in the game against the Dodgers, no less - the longstanding rival team of the Padres. 

It could have been worse, but requesting to be taken out of the game after ten straight balls – it's hard to imagine how...

_"Get me out of the game."_

_"I'm sorry, what? "_

_"Get me out. "_

With a pang, he remembers his words from earlier in the day. _She's a gimmick. She's the dwarf that played for the St. Louis Browns. She'll last a game, maybe two. She's be a nice little ass for us and she'll have a great story to tell her grandkids._

He's not sure what had possessed him … he's been an asshole before, a jerk … but never, ever cruel like that. Seeing the way she's punishing herself now, it's painful to watch.

She drops to the ground momentarily, her shoulders slumped and her hair falling down over her face. She's no longer the symbol on the television screen, the idol for the little girls screaming in the stadium. She's an athlete suffering what no doubt feels like the worst moment in her life …

"Again …?" she mutters to herself, looking up towards the backstop, her hand reaching out for another ball which she grips firmly before pushing herself back to her feet.

Again, he debates with himself whether to say something but decides against it. Every player had his or her own way of dealing with setback … personal rituals and practices … Mouth grim, he turns away and leaves Ginny to continue exorcising her demons.

"Again!" he hears her pant breathlessly, a sob in her voice. 


End file.
